Virus: A Tale of Woo & Woe
by ChopstickGirl241
Summary: Something is going on at Abstergo-Gentek, and Shaun Hastings is bound and determined to figure out what it is. Well, that was kind of his job. But the mysterious lab company isn't the only one with secrets. Sometimes, the truth, just won't set you free. Romance, Drama, Science Fiction, light horror, and light fluff. Multiple pairings. Trigger Warning.


A/N

I'm not a big fan of author's notes but this story is going to need a few as it progresses. This is the result of an rp between myself and a friend of mine. There's nothing too big in this first chapters but later chapters will be more explicit with content so if you can't handle these, please don't continue further.

Hot sex between men, PTSD, triggers, OC's, angst, and minor character death. You have been warned.

Also, real quick, I should explain. The Alex mentioned is Alex Mercer from Prototype. However, this is NOT a crossover, this is an AU and Alex just happens to be a main character. He doesn't have the virus in him in this version, he's a normal human. And I apologize if he or anyone else is a little OOC, I didn't know too much about Alex before I started writing so I based his personality off of the one mostly seen in the games. That being said, please enjoy!

* * *

Alex was sitting at bar with his black hoodie pulled up and knocking back a cold Hard Apple Cider. Desmond wasn't good for much but at least he gave him discounted beer. And he really needed one now. Work was a fucking nightmare; the test subjects kept dying faster than they could replace them and to make matters worse, some little rat was trying to find his way into their systems. For the past three weeks, some guy named H. has been hacking into their secured files and threatening to expose their research. They had a team of over one hundred computer scientists, and yet they were barely able to keep this guy at bay. Who knows when he'll pop up again, and who knows when he'll crack through their system. All this was stressing him out and it didn't help coming home to an annoying and needy lover. He might have cared about Desmond at one point but now just seeing his face annoyed him. He wasn't particularly interested in dragging things out but he couldn't afford to break up with him. Desmond was probably the only defense system he had to keep that cyber stalker off his trail. So for now, he'd make nice and pretend all of his research didn't hang in the balance while he got drunk on cheap beer at a nightclub with his boyfriend that he couldn't stand.

Said boyfriend worked the bar during the night shift so, during the day, he didn't have much to do. Alex was always so busy with work; the only people he saw on a regular basis were his cousins and a few friends of his. That being said, he was positively ecstatic to see Alex here.

Despite dating for two years and living together, he'd never really pressed his lover to expel his profession. Well, he _knew_ that he worked as a scientist for Abstergo-Gentek but he had no clue what he was working on exactly. Whatever it was kept him busy most hours of the day and sometimes night too. Shaun, his best friend, had always told him that there was something fishy about a man who spent so much time at his job. But Shaun had never liked Alex anyways, an interesting dynamic for his best friend to hate his boyfriend, but he never took his warnings too seriously. What's more, when Alex had a free night, he came to meet Desmond at the bar. It made his heart flutter to think that his lover would want to spend what little time he had to himself with someone like him. Well, they were dating and it was kinda expected, but still.

"Hey hot stuff," Desmond smiled at Alex, "Ready for another round~?" He chuckled and winked; trying to be flirty.

Alex, however, was not very receptive to it. His brow twitched a little, hearing his annoying voice and finished chugging his bottle. "Yeah. Thanks." Shit, he wasn't even drunk yet. He really wanted to though; it always made Desmond more tolerable.

The bartender didn't notice his boyfriend's annoyance. In fact he thought he was more caring recently because he's been closer to him as of late. He poured him another bottle and struck up a conversation. Luckily none of the patrons needed him right now.

"Rough day at work, babe?"

"It's unfucking believable." He took a swig of the newly poured drink. As far as Desmond knew, he was a run of the mill scientist. "Things haven't been going well."

The brunette blinked and smiled sadly at him, "Oh? Experiments going wrong?" He leaned over the counter as the music kept playing in the background.

The scientist was starting to feel the kick of the alcohol by now. Probably couldn't hurt to de-stress and tell this guy a few details. "Nothing we do is working. The test subjects kept dy-...I mean, passing. Lab rats, you know? Some of them just don't live long enough to conduct any decent studies. Plus there's been a shortage of rats lately. I guess a lot of people have been buying snakes for pets."

That wasn't it at all. They moved away from testing mice years ago. Dogs, cheetahs, and other big dangerous animals. That's what they used now. Though most of their research was tested on human beings since animals weren't reliable. But if they could make super soldier gorillas or something like that, that'd be pretty useful too, though it was proving harder and harder to capture and cart such big animals. Humans were even more tedious. It started with homeless people, but most of them weren't nourished or healthy enough to be tested on to a satisfactory conclusion. They'd resorted to kidnapping people who were more fit but it was hard to get away with that with no witnesses. They were so desperate for test subjects that he'd heard one of his higher ups actually talk about literally burning down an orphanage and abducting a bunch of kids during the chaos to raise them as super soldiers. After all, what were they going to do, tell their parents?

Desmond rose a brow, "Wow sounds rough." He sighed but smiled sweetly at him, "You know you never actually told me what you guys are researching. I bet it's something super important. Is it-" He cut himself off as another hooded patron sat down next to Alex. He turned to him, not wanting to be rude to Alex but also having a job to do.

"Hey there, stranger. Getcha drink?"

The man pulled down his hood and smirked, revealing a ginger faux hawk and sharp eyes behind black rimmed glasses. "Love one, mate." He turned and looked at Alex. "And Mercer. Haven't seen your ugly mug around these parts much."

Alex narrowed his eyes a bit. Fuck. It was Desmond's annoying friend. The guy didn't trust him, not that he really blamed him for that part, and he'd made it clear since day one. "Fuck you too, Hastings."

Desmond was caught by surprised, "Shaun! What are you doing here?" Not that he wanted to sound not happy to see him but he was surprised Shaun was here. It was pretty late. "Hey... What do you want, nice cool regular beer, whiskey, hard vodka? A Bloody Mary? Or maybe something softer like a piña colada?" He smiled at him but saw the tension, "Try not to fight you two. Rather not kick out my best friend and boyfriend."

"I'm feeling a little light tonight, give me a piña colada." He was friendly enough to Desmond and tried not to say anything else to Mercer. He pulled out his phone and started fiddling with it. "Tch, fucking Rebecca. I told her not to trash my apartment while she's using it." He mumbled, sort of to himself. Suddenly, Alex's phone buzzed and he took it out, seeing he had a new text from an unknown number.

'Your days are fucking numbered. Drink yourself stupid while you can and say goodbye to your loving boyfriend, because it's only a matter of time. I'll always be watching you. There's no where you can run that I can't follow. Signed- H.'

Alex stood up suddenly and quickly looked around; getting paranoid. He didn't see anyone suspicious, but there were so many people checking their phones right now. H. could be anybody! If he was even in the building.

"Here you go-" Desmond had just added the cherry and the little umbrella to Shaun's drink when he saw Alex was suddenly agitated. "Uh, you ok?"

"Shit...sorry, I gotta go. Uh, work called me in for something." He chugged the last of his drink then left in a hurry.

"Alex, wait!" He yelled but he was gone, "Dammit, I forgot to tell him I'm leaving early from work tonight."

"Who shoved the stick up his arse?"

Desmond sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "He's just stressed is all. Work's been troubling him and shit happens, y'know? Weird thing is he's actually making time to spend it with me more." He smiled, clearly love struck by him. "So why are you here? Becca kicked you out of your own apartment?"

Shaun set down his drink and sighed a bit. "I really wish you wouldn't speak so highly of that man. I keep telling you, you could do so much better." Desmond never listened to him but he kept trying. How Desmond could ever fall for a jerk like that was completely beyond him. "Anyways, Becca got into a tizzy with her old landlord, something about an outrageous electric bill, so she's crashing with me at my flat for awhile."

"I wish you wouldn't talk about him like that." He flicked his friend on the forehead, causing him to glare. "Alex is like a porcupine. You just have to deal with a few needles to get to his soft spot." He laughed. "Oh, but is Becca living with you getting in the way of your teaching job?"

"Not really." He shrugged and took another sip of his drink. "Brats are brats but I leave most of that work stuff where it belongs; at work. Except for grading papers and things like that, of course." Not that he'd really know. He wasn't really a history teacher; in fact, he wasn't really a teacher at all. Looks like Alex wasn't the only one keeping secrets from Desmond.

Desmond laughed just imagining Shaun being mad at a student, "Sounds awful. I think I'll stick to bartending. You know the bar fights don't seem half as bad after a while." He shrugged.

"Oh yeah, I meant to ask, how is your family? You usually have one inane story to tell about them. Have they been quiet this week?"

Desmond blinked "huh? Actually yeah they haven't done much right now. Ezio's been pretty well doing much nothing. Altaïr actually is in vacation from his work." He shrugged, "Even my crazy family needs a break"

"How interesting." He heard a sudden roar of cheering from across the club and saw a crowd of people had gathered on the dance floor as a one-armed man took over the DJ booth. "I've never seen anyone get so buggered over the music player. Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen that man before. Is he new?"

Desmond looked confused, "Huh...guess there's someone good tonight. I don't really bother to check them out." He looked past the crowd though and blushed as he realized he actually recognized that guy, "…is that Malik?"

"Malik? That name does sound a bit familiar...ah." he snapped his fingers. "I think I heard Rebecca mention him before." He did a quick Google search on his phone. "Ah, found him. Apparently he's a sort of semi-celebrity. He's a dance instructor, has his own studio, fronts as a DJ, has done choreography for several notable groups, and is also listed as a singer. I wonder what some on like that is doing at a dump like this. No offense, mate."

"I'm highly offended." He rolled his eyes but looked at the talented man. "Actually not sure why he's here. Pretty sure they would have said something if someone like that was coming here. Ooh, I hope I can get his autograph!"

"Get me one too, if you can. Rebecca likes his music and I figure I could dangle his autograph for her like a carrot and she'll owe me a favour." He chuckled a bit.

Desmond rolled his eyes again then chuckled, "Fine, fine, but then you owe _me_ a favor for it." He smirked and saw he was getting more clients, "Excuse me."

 _A Few Hours Later…_

It was the early morning and Desmond got to go home early but he managed to talk to Malik and get two autographs from him. He arrived to his small apartment and was surprised to see Alex there. He took off his backpack which he took to his work and had the autographs in them and set it near the door. He saw Alex was crashing on the couch, "Hey Alex, back from work too?"

The tired scientist jolted awake for a moment before realizing it was just Desmond and fell back on the couch, yawning. "You could say that. Or you could say I never really left." He was still clutching his phone but was relieved to see he had no new messages.

Desmond walked over and took off his coat, "It's pretty cold out..." He smiled and moved so he was sitting on Alex's lap. He reached over and grabbed Alex's phone from his hand and set it aside, "I really think you need a distraction from work." He winked.

Alex frowned a bit. Well, he was always frowning. More like scowling really, but it morphed almost into a pout. Even this, a beautiful and completely pliant body, eagerly sitting in his lap and waiting for his every command, didn't even stir a wiggle down there. This used to be fun. Even if his feelings, whatever they were, had waned long ago, sex used to always be fun. But it was different now. Not that the thought disgusted him or anything, but he simply had no interest whatsoever. "Desmond, I'm pretty tired. So are you. Why don't we just go to bed?"

Desmond pouted, "I don't think I'm tired enough to go to bed yet. C'mon, babe." He didn't seem to get the hint that Alex wasn't in the mood. He moved Alex's hoodie off of his head and stroked his hair back. "Bet we can find a thing or two to do…just me and you." He leaned in and gently kissed him.

Alex didn't really kiss back but he didn't push him away either. Jeez, this guy never knew when to quit. He eased Desmond off him, breaking the kiss, and then suddenly threw him over his shoulder; Alex was a lot stronger than he looked, and took Desmond to their room and plopped him unceremoniously on the bed. The plan was to get Desmond off then shut in for the night. Day? He didn't even know anymore. He also didn't know when sex had become such a chore.

Desmond gasped, "Ahh!" He yelled when he was suddenly manhandled. He made an ooof! noise when he fell on the bed then smirked at Alex, "Eager, are ya?" He started taking off his shirt, getting excited.

Alex smirked but it was more so out of pity. He really wished any of this turned him on. He kissed down his chest, not barbaric enough to not make it feel good, and eventually got to his pants, stroking him from the outside.

Desmond blushed and tilted his head back. "Oh fuck, Alex." He moved his foot and pressed it in to the other man's crotch to stroke him. He grunted from the ministration but it still didn't arouse him. He released his lover from the confines of his pants and licked a stripe up his already hard cock. Desmond gasped and arched his back, reaching down to stroke Alex's hair "Oh fuck just like that..."

Even if he's not into it, he still remembers everyone that Desmond wants. Everything that Desmond likes. It's practically muscle memory at this point on how to give this guy a blow job. There's a lack of thought behind it, but not a lack of effort. Doing it half-assed wouldn't do anyone any favours so he took Desmond into his mouth and sucked his cock gingerly.

Desmond tried not to move his hips but he accidently thrusted into his mouth. "Alex, God..." he groaned and moved him off. He moved so Alex was lying on the bed and he was sitting on his lap, grinding on him to get him hard. "I want you."

Alex felt Desmond on him suddenly and the situation was going to get pretty sticky pretty fast. And not in the good way. "Desmond..." Now he wasn't sure what to do. Still nothing. He was completely flaccid and Desmond wasn't satisfied with just a blow job. What an interesting situation he'd found himself in.

Desmond moved so he could pull down Alex's pants just enough. He touched him through his boxers then lowered those so he could stroke him. He leaned down to kiss Alex's neck and ran his hands along the length of his boyfriend's firm, strong body. But poor Desmond couldn't understand that his eagerness to please his lover couldn't be returned the way that he wanted. His enthusiastic but dense train of thought was really starting to annoy Alex. The guy had some perseverance to try and at least satisfy Desmond but it was wearing pretty thin the more he was touched in ways that he didn't want. He wasn't going to get hard and it was just getting sad at this point.

"Stop." The scientist finally put an end to it and lightly pushed Desmond off of him. "This isn't working. I told you, I'm tired." That probably wasn't it but he didn't want to deal with this right now.

Desmond blinked and looked at Alex surprised, "Y-you sure? You look really tense, but I guess..." He sighed and let go of Alex getting off him and sitting next to him.

"Yeah. I just wanna go to bed." He put himself away and got up to change to pajama bottoms and took off his shirt before crawling under the covers, turning away, and shutting his eyes. "Night."

Desmond stared at him, feeling forlorn, still aroused, and kind of alone. It was an odd mix of emotions and he just wanted to be close to him. But he did seem pretty tired. He'd probably feel more up to it once he was rested and less stressed.

"I'm going to go shower." He got up going to take a cold shower to cool off his horniness. He came back all dressed in his night clothes then got into bed cuddling onto Alex. There wasn't a thing wrong with his relationship, even if sometimes being with Alex made his heart hurt. But at the end of the day Alex came home to him in their apartment in their bed. Things would get better soon, he was sure of it. And with that hopeful thought, he drifted to sleep and slept straight through till morning. Unfortunately for Desmond, Alex was already up and dressed several hours ago. The man practically lived at work and it seemed like starting the day together was simply too much to ask. So, once again, Desmond would start the day in bed, alone.


End file.
